Pactice Shoot

Equipment taken:

3x Canon 600EX-RT Flashes

1x Tripod

1x Canon ST-E2 Speedlite Transmitter

Because I had previously scouted the area with the narrative in mind, this gave me a lot more confidence going into the practice shoot, as I know where in the room I was setting up. Although this was the case, I still wasn’t sure how each area would look with flash and where exactly I could have them.

First Shot –

For the framing of this shot, I have tried to pull the frame so that Athena is the central point of focus, but also this meant that I could chop out the barred door that is just to the right of Arachne. I am really happy with the composition of the characters in the shot, having Athena pointing at Arachne acts as a trigger to the viewer that she is challenging her; also reinforced by her facial expression. You then have Arachne’s stubborn pose with her hands on her hip and looking over her shoulder, as if to shrug off Athena’s powerful intimidation.

As you can see from the lighting diagram, I have used two of the flashes on either side of the camera, both in rembrandt directions. This meant that I was able to give a lot of light to both Athena and also all of the wall that is left and right of her, really filling out the frame. I then had the third flash on the first step of the stairs. I was aiming this flash largely upwards, I however used it slightly angled to try and capture some of the flash on the back of Arachne’s head. This angle would have caught her hair, giving it the backlighting that it needs to the darkness of her hair; this however didn’t work as well as I had hoped.

Second Shot - 

The framing of this shot was a lot simpler as I could use the architecture of the building to place both my models. This area of the room has two barred windows separated by a large stone pillar; this separation is perfect to indicate the clash between the two characters.  For the composition I wanted to have Athena holding her tapestry whilst attempting to rip Arachne’s, this would indicate the jealousy she feels over Arachne’s piece. Here Athena is presented almost growling at Arachne, however I feel this just looks too much like she is smiling rather than looking vicious.

For the lighting arrangement of the shot I used the same type of style with the two rembrandt positions, however I tried to get them to point largely at the wall, whilst still angled enough to catch the back of the characters.  I then used a flash in a central position to act as a fill light to illuminate the main scene.

Third Shot -  

This is in my opinion the strongest of the 4 shots. Although there is a lot going on in the scene, it is still able to feel like a strong segment of the story, rather than just being cluttered and crowded. The framing was again simple to create because I was able to use the door as a central figure and work from that, its strong presence in the background works in parallel with the strong foreground imagery. When thinking of how to compose this image, I had to think about how I was going to represent that Athena pities Arachne for making her kill herself, so the way in which Athena’s leg supports Arachne’s slumped body gives the idea of her supporting her life. Another smaller aspect that helps to show this pity that I was after is the way that the helmet is layed in the front of the main focal point, to show how she has almost demoted herself to Arachne’s hierarchical status.

The lighting arrangement for this was similar to the previous shot; I however used the rembrandt angle to point more towards the centre, at the characters. Because there were a lot more props in the frame, I wanted to ensure that they were all picked up; I think this worked effectively, especially on the helmet. I then used a central flash as a fill to illuminate the main frame, also lightening the shadows caused from the rembrandt flashes. 

Fourth Shot - 

Because Arachne wont really move during her transformation, I was able to use the same framing as the previous shot, this helps to link the two shots together for the audience. After trying out the spider legs, I just left they were really ineffective and looked comical, this isn’t the effect I was going for, especially for the most pinnacle shot of the narrative. I decided to just try and get into the position that she will be in and try and play with different lighting scenarios to see which one is the best.

For the lighting arrangement, I pushed out the rembrandt lights into sidelights. I however used them to going up towards the door in the background, filling out much more of the background. I then used the central light in a high position to allow it to act as more of a spotlight, this will help to pick her out of the darkened foreground.